The Fifth Day
by Rosedreams
Summary: Whose blood holds the key to their destiny? No pairings as of yet. Wu Fei centric.
1. Chapter 1

The Fifth Day

The Fifth Day

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Ahem Yes. Yes. I do realize that you've heard this tale a hundred thousand times, but the only version you've had access to is the human propaganda. Their stories are only based upon their vantage point as God's favored works. Of course, one can not blame humans for our Creator's affinity for the underdogs. But, that's beside my point. Now, as I was saying.

In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. Four days saw the evolution of the grand stage, pleasing both to the eyes and the senses. The Fifth day brought about God's minor actors to fill the stage and to supply further depth to the plot. Day Six announced the prima donnas. Our creator's own personal puppets made to dance upon his strings. Ahem Please forgive me. My cynicism is rearing its' ugly head.

For the sake of everyone's sanity, may I be permitted to fast forward the tale a bit? Ah, thank you kindly. As you may have heard; our main players were beset by a slick serpent and tossed from the land of Heaven on Earth. The gates nearly slapped them on the a… bottom on their way out. This left us minor players without a story to act and a lot of thumb twiddling.

Those of the creatures with little to no patience soon followed the pair out into the great unknown, never to be heard from again. Those of us with forbearance waited and watched until boredom and curiosity got the better of us. We too passed through the gates only to find the start of a hell on earth for our brethren.

Man had learned to hunt us. He meticulously used every bit of our flesh and bone to make his life easier. It was as if we had floundered our way into a twisted version of the world we knew.

God's perfection no longer relied solely on the fruit of the vine or the abundance of herbs. We had become "what's for dinner". We quickly evolved for the sake of surviving. The herbivores proliferated rapidly to meet both the demand for consumption and the need to continue their race. Hunters and prey alike learned to blend into their surroundings to keep the fangs and claws out of their hides.

Neither the fish of the sea, nor the fowl of the air were immune from Man's hunger for flesh. The more we evolved, the more Man did as well. He learned through trial and error the best methods to deal with us, to use us. Our world became survival of the fittest, which I'm sure amused our Creator greatly.

Time marched on and we danced a macabre dance with the humans. Those of us with sentient minds watched as Man advanced from dwelling in caves to living in steel and glass high rises. They still slaughtered our brethren, but in a more organized and… humane… manner. I do not see what is so humane about not having the opportunity to fight for ones' life, but… I digress once again.

Why yes, it does seem that I've skipped quite a bit of years, but surely you do not wish to be inundated with lengthy tales of the sentient among us playing our own games with the humans? Where some of our more unforgiving brethren hunted the humans in turn? That humans are an acquired taste? Oh, don't look at me that way. I only tried it once and even then I just chewed, but did not swallow. You humans are quite a fatty, gamey flavor; not at all pleasing to my palate. Moving on. There was also the graciousness others portrayed in blessing or cursing their worshippers' land? How some played a veritable peek-a-boo with the peons… er…homo-sapiens?

Perhaps a short summary would suffice in their stead. As man's territory expanded, so did our own. We watched the rise and fall of civilizations. To our Creator's displeasure, we witnessed man's deification of various false gods. As man grew more efficient, he also became conceited, believing himself to be godlike in his own right. Our western brethren fell to the lance and sword of those believing themselves, knightly; alternately given sacrifices and being destroyed. The eastern society was honored with beautiful ceremonies and gift offerings. We are not a quickly reproducing species thus our numbers dwindled until only the Asian sect remained.

Varied species with capable minds slowly drifted back to Eden as they grew weary of constantly being on guard. To this day, there are still only a couple of intellectual individuals left roaming this universe though finding us will be most difficult if we do not wish to reveal ourselves.

You see, we were creative in our evolution. There will always be some fanatic romanticizing dealing with dragons, gryphons, and a whole host of other creatures. One would be amazed at the lengths humans will go through to satisfy their curiosity and daydreaming. The resulting offspring of such liaisons mostly died shortly after conception or birth; sometimes taking the life of the mother as well. On a rare occurrence, a perfect mix of man and beast will be born. The effects of that child's DNA wouldn't always be apparent or manifest in any way. Those children were mainly carriers for our genetic material. A way for us to continue on and still be able to experience first hand the story God had set in motion.

Despite our animosity towards the human race, we were still intrigued by them. We observed them, mimicked them, and merged with them the best we could. After all, a supporting actor's goal is to one day become the lead. Unfortunately, the deck was stacked against us. We are only here to enhance the story God is creating.

The humans have turned into the pests we long believed. Multiplying rapidly, eating up resource after resource, and moving on when supplies have run out. If you'll look at humans from our stand point, you'd see that they bear a remarkable resemblance to cockroaches. You squish one and a million more are waiting to take their place. Do not get me wrong, there are always exceptions to everything. After all, how would we be able to mingle our genes if there weren't a few tolerable individuals? Unfortunately, those keep passing on and a new generation must be scoured through for the Jewels among the rocks.

Those Jewels were especially useful as liaisons between the human and creature worlds. Here we are, showered with gifts or sitting on pilfered loot, and no way to spend it. As western tales are fond to relate, dragons do tend to sit on hordes of treasures. What are we supposed to do with it? We collect it because it seems highly valuable to homo-sapiens, but we have no way to use it in the preferred fashion. Why, think of it, the sheer chaos of one of my brethren showing up to market with a palm full of gold and a grocery list. No, no. That would not be a very good day for either species.

Instead, we use those Jewels for more than breeding, as I've mentioned previously. They do receive benefits from being obliging. They are able to pick from the treasures about them, having a dragon's (or other sentient creature's) protection over their family, and being allowed to live after viewing something they shouldn't have.

I have been fortunate enough to have an entire clan swear their allegiance to me. The Long clan is one I have been gracious to in turn. I have even permitted my genes to mingle with theirs. Only one of my co-mingled offspring has survived to pass them along, but that is enough for me. I have watched their lives with a good deal of interest. I constantly monitored for any signs of my blood, any little quirk that signaled the continuance of my line.

There have been many hopefuls throughout their generations, but destiny had no need of them yet. Now though, our people are getting restless to visit our birth land. Eden. The feeling that this drama is coming to a close, has plagued us creatures. Unfortunately, as the centuries have flowed, our memories have faded, landmarks have changed, and the older ones have passed on. The knowledge of Eden's location has been lost to us purebreds, but we have hopes that one of our mixed-blood offspring may have inherited awareness of the gates.

This hope has brought me to the last of my line. Time will tell if Chang Wu Fei holds the key to our happiness, or if our hope is lost.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In the beginning, there was an alarm. Not just any alarm, no, a shrill one commanding attention from anyone in the vicinity.

Unfortunately for one Chang Wu Fei, he was the only one about to witness the startling noise and also the only one able to silence said noise.

A slim caramel hand slid out from under its' hiding spot beneath the pillow. It groped about until it found a seemingly microscopic button, which was slapped with undue force.

Slowly that hand crept back to its' former resting place. A deep sigh from the hand's owner shook the bed slightly before the covers were pushed back and a torso was forced into a sitting position. The hand's mate lifted to stifle a yawn as the mind sought further control of its limbs. Eventually, time and a full bladder pulled the body out of its nest and towards a shower and humanity.

Fifteen minutes later, a human emerged amidst a steam curtain; partially stumbling towards the water kettle and a waiting tin of tea. A small comfort he indulged in before his morning regiment of martial arts and meditation followed by another quick shower then a harried race to work.

Wu Fei wasn't looking forward to a déjà vu day again. Every day was always the same as the last. Sit at a paper covered desk in an uncomfortable chair, listening to the general din of a full office. Knowing that all these people were working 10 to 12 hours a day and there wasn't even a dent in the criminal world to show for it.

If one knew where to look, you could see the stress of a never ending duty wearing on the men and women scurrying about head quarters. Fine lines radiating from lips and eyes; new nervous habits being developed almost every day; an electronic roll call of field agents, checked by those brave few who could still stomach seeing an acquaintance's name listed with the dreaded letters MIA or KIA. Wu Fei prided himself on keeping a distance from the crowd, or so he told himself. Preferring to keep tabs on those few left who were already ingrained in his life. The few who had survived what the world had thrown at them. Survived and gone on to live their lives as they saw fit.

To his eyes, he was the only one without a clear path. Without another alternative, he chose to join and stay with the Preventers after meeting Yuy head on in battle. It jolted him to see someone he knew at the other end of his trident. Too much like his battle with Treize.

Some days he was grateful for the peaceful monotony of office life, those days when his nights were filled with memories of bloodshed and loss. Other days, he questioned the true worth of his position. Red tape, rules, and regulations kept the progress of their organization at a snail's pace and Wu Fei doubted that they ever accomplished anything integral for peace.

With a shake, Wu Fei pulled himself from his internal musings to focus on the cases in front of him. Manfully, he withheld a sigh. Before him was a missing person case for a child of a high profile official. A quick glance at the date of the abduction ruled out the chances that the child was still alive. He frowned and carefully kept from studying the little girl's face, knowing that after 48 hours one was most likely looking for a body instead of a victim.

He knew why they kept giving him the emotionally rife cases, his superiors believed him to be too analytical to care that all that potential was snuffed out for one selfish reason or another. That he was capable of seeing through the drama of hysterical family and friends and the three ring circus of media that inevitably came with such dealings to find the obscure details that will solve the crime.

This time, he was unable to stifle his sigh. He wasn't a robot, without human compassion. Hopefully, all the information he'd need would be in the files so he wouldn't have to rehash details with traumatized individuals.

First, he'd listen to the interview recordings where he could concentrate on the nuances and inflections of the interviewee to see if they were hiding something.

He took the audios to a specialized sound booth and inserted the first disk into the voice analyzer. A few dials were flipped and soon sound was emanating from the speakers. As per the norm, the mother was a weeping, babbling mess, while the father was asking why the "law enforcement" was wasting time asking questions instead of finding his daughter.

Eight tapes and nothing stood out as unusual. Wu Fei was about to bury his nose in the case notes when his pager began vibrating, Une.

A quick phone call revealed that his current case was being transferred to another department. Eight year old Bethany Worthington had been found, brutalized and murdered thirteen miles away from her home. The Underwater Search and Rescue Team had found her when they dragged a man-made pond.

Wu Fei couldn't say that he was unhappy that the case was taken away from him, just unhappy that the hopes of this family were crushed by brutal reality. It proved that all the fighting done in the previous wars had not done anything for the minor personal wars that the individual fought daily.

He was tired of fighting, of pushing against a winning force. He was almost ready for a change of pace. Almost. If only he didn't have the overwhelming need to set the world right. To bring justice for those who can not gain it for themselves. As long as he felt that the world needed him as a Preventer, he would stay, even if he died trying. Though, it would be an honorable death defending the weak.

Wu Fei gathered his files, meticulously putting them in chronological order and including his notes on what he'd gained from listening to the audio. Then, he trudged back to his office where he surrendered his case to the file clerk to be redistributed.

When he actually stepped foot into his office, the first thing he noted was a long gaily wrapped package lying across his desk. That had not been there when he'd left seven hours ago.

Carefully, he retrieved a pair of sterile medical gloves and a forensic kit including a digital camera. Donning the gloves, he visually inspected the package, mentally taking notes in his mind. 'The package appears to be in relatively good condition. No addresses, so it did not come through the mail system. Not to mention, the bow on top is not crushed. Items on the desk do not appear to be disturbed nor was anything else out of place in the office.'

Wu Fei took several pictures in various angles, swabbed various areas for DNA samples, before dusting the package and door knobs for fingerprints. Nothing. Not even a smudge of a fingerprint.

Next on his self-imposed agenda was magnifying and cataloging everything unusual. Again, there wasn't a scrap of evidence anywhere unless the swabs came back positive. Frustrated, Wu Fei used a pair of forceps and a scalpel to slice through the tape sealing the package. With a great deal of caution, he un-wrapped a plain box with which he repeated his forensics with the same result.

After hardly breathing, for nearly an hour, he had the package open to reveal a Bronze Dao. It was hardly in mint condition, but it was still worthy of a place of honor in a museum. The sheer age on the weapon was phenomenal and showed in the dull luster of the metal and the wearing of the engraved design along the blade. The scholar in him just wished to sit down and compare his knowledge to the actual artifact. The warrior in him recognized that the weapon had had its use once upon a time, but could not compare to the craftsmanship and efficiency of today's sword. The Preventer in him wondered if it was a pilfered weapon and if so, which museum was it appropriated from.

He gently ran a finger down its short length as he weighed his options and made a mental list of things he needed to get done regarding this incident.

As he touched the sword, it shifted and revealed a small piece of parchment with his name scrawled across it. With care, he pulled it out and opened it.

Dear esteemed Chang Wu Fei,

I hope this finds you well, as do I hope you enjoy the sword.  
Please keep yourself safe until we meet face to face.

Humbly yours,

He flipped the parchment about, lifted it to the light, and folded it carefully, but there wasn't any name included to the rather brief letter. Wu Fei was getting rather frustrated with the lack of any useful information.

He figured that he had been out of his office for roughly seven hours and the delivery could have been done at any point during that time. He knew one of the office workers would have mentioned something about a courier or a visitor if one had been spotted. As in any office, gossip was the relief in a stressful environment.

This left security tapes to scour for evidence.

He sat down at his desk and fired off an e-mail to the labs for someone to pick up the samples he'd collected, then he patched in to the security circuit.

Finally, he had a tiny break in this mystery. There was a timing glitch in the tape that revealed looped footage. Someone had to know Preventer's override codes in order to reroute certain camera feeds. The only people he knew capable of such a feat were off on other colonies. The trace he placed on the code access point showed that someone had used a computer inside the complex to reroute the cameras. Someone with knowledge of t he master codes apparently.

He seriously doubted that Une nor Merquise would sabotage themselves by messing with security. Especially since the signs would point back to themselves, not to mention why on Earth Sphere they would wish to give him an anonymous present of a priceless sword.

A glance at the clock in the corner of his monitor advised him that it was now considered after hours and he'd have to wait 'til tomorrow to check with his superiors about their involvement in this mystery.

Quick shuffling and Wu Fei had his desk organized efficiently for the next day. The only thing he was torn on, was what to do with the sword. His selfish self wanted to take it home to study, yet his logical side wanted to have it locked in the evidence room in case it was a stolen artifact.

His selfish side won.


End file.
